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My marathon training plan advised that I took two weeks off running after the big day. You don’t have to tell me twice – this vlog tells it all #lovetobelazy. The only exercise I did was swim (well float around), walk or dance. I didn’t keep tabs on what I was eating, I drank a bit more alcohol than normal because I could. I was chilling in the garden with a glass of wine, a cold shandy or a Crabbies ginger beer because the weather was amazing and I didn’t need to think about training. I enjoyed the break but at the same time with all those natural endorphins that exercise gives us, I was missing the buzz and I had less patience.

My next goal is to train for the Scottish Half Marathon in September. I am going to drop a little body fat so I have less weight to run with (total luxury) and I also need to work on my speed work. This will involve rpm training, tabata work, hill running (something which still scares me a little), a long and steady run each week and some yoga.

The hills near our house – no wonder they scare me!

It will also involve me getting more organised and planning out our meals for the week. I no longer use the word diet. I am calling it healthy and balanced clean living and I will adaopt this 80% of the week and the remaining 20% I will enjoy foods that are not that clean if I want them. These treats involve stuff like goats cheese from I J Mellis, wine, dark chocolate and a calabrese from Pizza Express.

I love vegetables though and to me they are a clean treat. I just need to avoid covering them in fat – broccoli cheese is a family favourite. This will not just be good for my training in terms of dropping body fat and providing me with good energy. I want to be more organised with the kids snacks. They love fruit and healthy treats like hummus and carrot sticks. Lately I have been slack dishing out kiddie crisps, cereal bars or biscuits. Then I wonder why they are high as a kite before bed and refusing to go to sleep! So here we go – week 1.

June 12th – 18th

Sunday – out most of day at a 4th birthday party and baby shower – 20% treats of cake and carbs!

Sunday evening – Hairy Dieters lemon chicken. The kids love this too and we increase calories which are low by making homemade egg fried rice with peas and brocolli. The only naughty is the small spoon of sugar and the oil to fry the rice in.

Rapeseed oil is the healthiest to cook with as it heats the most favourably over olive oil. I found this in Henri’s Deli and the lemon works really well with the egg fried rice to go with this dish. They also supply in lots of other tasty infusions such as ginger, hot chilli and oregano.

Monday

We are also trying to save the amount of money we spend on food and I am hoping that planning our meals will not only avoid wastage and bad eating habits but also allow us to cut back. It’s that time of year we are trying to save for our family holiday so we need to make savings. The hubs did a good job over the weekend of getting out to Costco and buying our meat in bulk. He cut it up and froze it in batches. We eat lean meats 80% of the time such as chicken and fish. We love a bit of fillet steak over the weekend and some juicy king prawns.

Breakfast – poached eggs and toast for myself and the kids. I had a cup of tea and a small glass of fresh orange juice. The rest of the day I drank water (with fresh lime to jazz it up) with the treat of 1 cup of coffee.

I fill a jug of water and stick some ice and lime or lemon in it at the start of the day. This reminds me to drink my water otherwise I forget. The kids see it as quite exotic looking so end up drinking more water too #bonus.

Snacks – nectarines

We went off to the shops to get vegetables for the week so I packed some breadsticks. These foil packs are great for taking on the move.

Lunch – The kids had breadsticks on the move with lemon and coriander hummus, raisins and some safari paws pure fruit shapes. My 3 year old had other snacks in nursery and I brought Charlie home for his nap and some milk. I had lots to do so grabbed a Jacobs flatbread, a couple of spoons of hummus and a handful of pistachio nuts. I treated myself to a cappuccino and a couple of squares of dark chocolate infused with lime.

Our shopping mainly consisted of fruit and vegetables. Charlie helped me unpack it. My treats were a bottle of crabbie’s for a potential sunny evening and the dark chocolate. I stocked up on soda water, I planned to have that with vodka and lots of fresh lime at the weekend when I hosted wee party.

Dinner – Moroccan spiced chicken (marinated chicken in some fresh herbs and spices and stir fried in lemon rapeseed oil). I served this with a quinoa recipe I found in my woman’s running magazine.

Quinoa is so good for us but it is bland so always needs a bit of a twist or a kick. The whole family gobbled it up.

Exercise – I went for my first run since the marathon. My legs felt pretty good so hopefully those 26.2 miles didn’t do too much damage. I ran at a fairly relaxed and steady pace for just under an hour.

Tuesday

I filled up my jug of water again in the morning and chucked some ice and limes in. The kids love helping me make a smoothie. I chopped up some pink grapefruit first for us all. They are like me and love sour stuff. They enjoyed this while I had a cup of tea.

We then got to work and blended up porridge oats, banana, cinnamon, chia seeds, a bag of organic mixed seeds and milk.

Charlie and I gobbled ours down. Bonnie was a little unsure of the texture and asked what else was in it apart from banana and milk haha. She then had a good moan until I agreed to let her make a strawberry and kiwi one (she did ask for strawberry and carrot but I told her that was a bad combo) #neverendingdishes

Snacks – chopped carrot sticks

Lunch – Grandad Dave’s Homemade lentil and vegetable soup – lentils are now classed as 1 of our 5 a day. We had this with a slice of wholemeal bread and butter

Exercise – I did a 45 minute rpm class followed by 20 minutes of swimming

Wednesday

Orange segments (shared with kids who also had cereal while I had my cup of tea)

By the time I get round to making my breakfast if we are not out super early the kids are ready for their 2nd breakfast. I made poached duck egg with asparagus and tomatoes drizzled in a little of the lemon oil. The kids had theirs with toast.

I spent 30 minutes on a bit of a cooking mission as we had a busy afternoon ahead. I chopped vegetables up to roast later and drizzled with some of the lemon oil. I marinated chicken in fresh lemon juice, honey, garlic and mixed herbs. I also chucked a bunch of vegetable in the pressure cooker with some garlic, chopped tomatoes, chia seeds and herbs to cook down a vegetable lasagne ragu for the following evening. I entertained the kids whilst doing this by letting them try all of the different vegetables.

Fizz, wine and cocktails (mostly made with soda water and lots of fresh fruit)

Saturday had been planned for a while and was always going to be a bit of a blow out. We still need to enjoy ourselves. I am happy with the start I have made and the small changes such an increasing my vegetable intake and cutting out Friday night wine if I am planning to enjoy drinks the next day. Hopefully by keeping track of my eating habits and trying to make time to share them, it will help me continue to have a bit more self control. I will be meeting with a personal trainer soon to get further advice with regards to nutrition and exercise.

Please feel free to send me any healthy recipes you think I will enjoy to mummyjojoblog@gmail.com xx